Greenimics

International conference on global warming in Copenhagen

    Representatives of nearly 200 nations will gather in Copenhagen for an international conference on global warming. As big greenhouse gas emitters, the United States and China are expected to be pivotal to the outcome. Many other countries fall into the formal and informal clusters described here.

China: The world's largest population and the largest emissions of greenhouse gases could be viewed as one of two 800- pound gorillas in the room, with the United States (21% of emissions & 6% of G.D.P).China has refused to accept firm limits on its emissions but has instead proposed a "carbon intensity" target, reducing its emissions per dollar of economic output by 40 to 45% by 2020.

United States of America: The United States ranks among the biggest emitters of carbon dioxide per capital of any large country (20% of emissions, 30% of G.D.P, 5% of people).With the Senate unable to pass climate legislation, the Obama administration will be limited in what it can offer.

European Union: European nations have led the push for firm emission limits, with some on track to meet their Kyoto goals. They will push for new, more stringent emission limits for industrialized countries so that the market in emission credits does not collapse (15% of emissions, 25% of G.D.P, 8% of people).

(Source: nytimes.com)

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Ecology and Buildings

                                                   

"Achieving LEED certification for our newest retail facility in Frisco, Texas, further demonstrates Dobson's commitment to implementing good energy and environmental principles at our retail locations," said Suzanne Brown, president of Dobson's Flooring America,

Dobson's Flooring America new store in Frisco, Texas, is registered with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and programmed for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. It is an example of how green consciousness grows.

Actually, green or sustainable architecture is the core of public interest—as well it should be, because buildings use a lot of energy. The construction and operation of residential and commercial buildings consume as much as 40 percent of the energy used in the United States today.

The calculation of a building’s total environmental impact requires a sort of rating, like LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), which has become the standard in the United States. There are points based on a checklist which have to be respected, such as daylighting, water recycling, solar panels, bicycle racks, and so on.
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FInally, it appears that rather than trying to change behavior to actually reduce carbon emissions, politicians and entrepreneurs have sold greening to the public as a kind of accessorizing.

Anne Alexandre.

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Investment in Green Technology

                                                       

“It’s really geared toward science experiments,” Mr. Khosla said. “The goal there is very much to take risks that nobody else will take.”

Khosla Ventures, the firm he founded in 2004, is announcing on Tuesday that it has raised $1.1 billion in two funds that will invest in green technology and information technology start-ups. The two funds represent the largest amount raised by a Venture Capitalist firm since 2007.

Khosla Ventures will make initial investments of $5 million to $15 million from its main $800 million fund. The smaller $275 million fund will seed very early-stage ideas with investments of around $2 million.

After a period of hyperactive investment in alternative energy start-ups, investors have been shying away from them, arguing that they cost too much. In the first half of 2008, venture capitalists funneled $2 billion into 139 clean tech start-ups. In the first half of this year, they invested only $513 million in 83 such companies.

Khosla tells the Times now is the time for venture capitalists to step in with big bets that could create the technology to address climate change. “We’re really about reinventing the infrastructure of society, which is the only way we’ll get the carbon footprint down, and we’re not afraid to fail.”

Anne Alexandre.

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General Motors Announces 2011 Buick Plug-In Hybrid Crossover

General Motors announced, in a press release this morning that the new 2011 Buick Crossover will come with a plug-in hybrid system. The new mid size vehicle will be about the size of a Chevrolet Equinox SUV and get double the city gas mileage of a similar-sized conventional SUV while running on a combination of batteries and regular fuel.
The Buick will have a new plug-in rechargeable version of GM's two-mode hybrid poertrain now used in larger SUVs and pickup trucks. The current version cannot be recharged by plugging it in. The new Buick will have a 3.6-liter V-6 engine and two electic motors powered by a lithium-ion battery made by LG Chem of South Korea.
 Under the GM dual- mode hybrid system, a computer determines what combination of the three motors is most efficient for the road conditions, temperature and load.

The new Buick, which has not yet been named, will initially be powered by a four-cylinder engine. It will get the plug-in powertrain in 2011 for Department of Energy fleet use, followed shortly thereafter by sales to the public.

Pierre-Alexandre Tonin

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The Senate's 'Clunkers' Vote Coming Thursday

The Senate is likely to vote on a $2 billion extension of the "cash for clunkers" program Thursday, ensuring the popular vehicle-incentive program has enough resources to continue trough the summer, according to two senior Senate aides.
The aides, one a Democrat and the other a Republican, said Wednesday that talks were continuing between Senate leadership staff over how many and which Republican amendments would be allowed votes. But both said they expected an agreement would be reached between Senate leaders and a vote to approve the extension to take place on Thursday afternoon.  Sen. Thune said Republican lawmakers wanted to bring forward amendments that would cap the amount spent on the program, putting in place an expiration date, and ensuring the funds to pay for the extension come out of already allocated federal money, rather tan add to the federal budget.

It is expected that there is sufficient support to approve the extension once it comes to the Senate floor. The Senate is scheduled to begin a month-long summer recess on Friday.

Pierre-Alexandre Tonin

(Source: wsj.com)

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Habitat for humanity gets green

"Our mission is to provide decent, simple affordable housing to families and we're committed to being able to provide affordable home ownership. By keeping houses highly energy efficient and by building small energy efficient homes lowers the total cost of ownership-- we are deeply committed to keeping not only the upfront expenditures, but also monthly costs affordable," said Habitat for Humanity CEO Reckford.

The program, which began April 2008 in the pilot stage, will run through summer of 2012 and aims to build 1,500 homes to EPA green building standards in 2009 and 2010.

While the program originally offered up to $3,000 per home to help reach Energy Star status, and houses that meet a “higher green standard,” which varies by affiliate from LEED to Earthcraft to Evergreen, receive a subsidy of $5,000. Moreover, Home Depot Foundation plans to build 5,000 efficient homes over the next five years. At the end of August, over 120 Habitat for Humanity affiliates will participate in the national rollout across 45 states

The process will be contributing to greenhouse-gas reductions, shedding 11 tons of annual household carbon and greenhouse-gas emissions, or the equivalent of plucking 250 cars off American roadways.

Home Depot expects to provide $50-million for charitable efforts in 2009, with the green-building effort representing about 12 percent of that. While Home Depot and Habit for Humanity began discussing the green program before the current recession and mortgage crisis, those problems have reinforced the need for it.

“This is unquestionably the largest scale accelerated initiative we’ve taken on to drive green building,” said Jonathan Reckford, the chief executive of Habitat for Humanity International. Moreover, the $30 million initiative, he added, would bring rapid payback for families in terms of lower energy bills.

Anne Alexandre.

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Chrysler to drop 'Clunker' Incentive

    Chrysler Group is dropping an incentive plan that offered to double the government's "cash for clunkers" rebates amid complaints from dealers that inventory is running. The move also comes after the cash for clunkers program, which offers rebates from the government of up to  $4,500 brought of consumers into dealer showrooms.
In July, Chrysler offered to double the rebate by adding up to $4,500 rebate are available to consumers who trade in older vehicles and buy new, more-efficient models

    Effective Tuesday, Chrysler will no longer offer a flat $4,500 rebate on top of the clunker incentive. Instead, it will vary the size of rebates, depending on the model and brand a customer selects. Chrysler is changing the message "to focus less on the deal but more on the products", said Jodi Tinson, a spokeswoman of the company.

    Edmunds.com estimates that Chrysler has spent about 68% more on incentives for the first six months of the year than the average, at about $4,693 per vehicle.

(Source: wsj.com)

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The White House Votes to Extend 'Clunkers' Program

The House of Representatives voted Friday to transfer $2 billion in emergency funding from the economic stimulus plan to the "cash for clunkers" program, ensuring it has sufficient funds to continue.  With 316 against 109, the vote has approved the extension and would shift $2 billion from the $787 billion stimulus plan to the program. The House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said that on the "both sides of the aisle, people acknowledge the effectiveness of this initiative" but she still has a "concern" about the source of funding for restoring clunkers monies.

This program, which started last week, offers consumers vouchers for as much as $4,500 to trade in their gas guzzlers for new and more fuel-efficient models.

The Chairman and Chief Executive, M. Jackson, of AutoNation Inc, , the country's largest chain of car dealerships, said in a brief interview that "It's has been a huge success". Moreover, Jackson declared: " I think there has been a psychological effect and gotten consumers to start buying cars again". Since the beginning of the program, the company has sold more than 3,000 vehicles.  

However, the National Auto Dealers Association said that the clunkers program could "run out of funding" and some dealers might not be reimbursed for rebates extended to customers. 

Pierre - Alexandre Tonin 

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Japan will reduce its emissions of polluting gases

Japan announced that it plans to reduce its emissions of polluting gases by 15% until 2020, compared with their 2005 level.
The Empire of the Rising Sun is the fifth bigger polluter of the planet. It was one of last major countries, with Russia, not to have announced any plan to reduce its pollution. Prime Minister Taro Aso finally did so on Wednesday. According to Mr. Aso, Japan's goal is bigger than Europe's and the United States's. Indeed Europe plants to reduce its emisions by 13% in 2020 compared with 2005, and Russia by 14%.
The European Union plans to reduce its emission by 20% or even 30% in 2020 compared with 1990. The United States are quite late on this issue. All they will be able to do is reducing their emissions by 14% in 2020 compared with 1990.
All these goals are announced six months before the Copenhague conference, which is supposed to redefine a global environmental policy after the Kyoto protocol.

Francois-Xavier Motte

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Quand Italie rime avec écologie

Qui a dit que écologie et Italie n'était pas compatible?
D'après une étude menée par l'association écologiste Legambiente et le syndicat CGIL, un plan de relance de l'emploi fondé sur l'économie verte permettrait de créer 500 000 emplois, soit une augmentation du PNB de 1% à 2%.
Grâce à la réduction des dépenses de l'État et autres gaspillages, l'étude évalue une économie possible de près de 15 milliards de d'euros permettant la création d'emplois "vert". 350 000 emplois pourraient être ainsi crées dans le secteur de la construction et de l'énergie propre et 150 000 dans le secteur de la gestion de l'eau et les transports. Même la commission environnement de Confindustria (MEDEF italien), d'habitude hostile, se déclarent favorables à cette action.

A la traine en matière d'écologie, l'Italie pourrait bien rattraper son retard et ainsi "sortir de la crise, en construisant un monde plus propre" comme a dit un certain Obama...

Pierre-Alexandre Tonin

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